April

April 4 – Mexico's children's festival "Juguemos a Cantar" takes place and ends its first run on May 2 .

April 6 – A blizzard unprecedented in size for April dumps 1–2 feet of snow on the northeastern United States, closing schools and businesses, snarling traffic, and canceling several major league baseball games.

Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.

Indianapolis 500: In what Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history, 1973 winner Gordon Johncock wins his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds, the closest finish to this date, after Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps.

September 18 – The Lebanese Christian militia (the Phalange) kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps with the overlooking of Israeli troops in West Beirut. The massacre is in retaliation for the assassination of pro-Israel president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, as well as several Palestinian massacres against Lebanese Christians.

September 26 – Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main parachute to fall to lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.

November

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surges 43.41 points, or 4.25%, to close at 1,065.49, its first all-time high in more than 9 years. It last hit a record on January 11, 1973 when the average closed at 1,051.70. The points gain is the biggest ever up to this point.